Institutional Accreditation at EMU

1. Institutional Accreditation at EMU April 26, 2012 ISPC Meeting

2. AQIP as an Accreditation Pathway • Rooted in continuous improvement principles and practices • Systems Portfolio: Examination of effectiveness of operating processes, process results and improvements, and goals • Online at www.emich.edu/portfolio • Other components of AQIP participation: • Action Projects • Strategy Fora • “Quality Check-Up” visit • Reaffirmation of accreditation

3. HLC Criteria For Accreditation To maintain accreditation, institutions must document conformity to five criteria: • Mission and integrity • Preparing for the future • Student learning and effective teaching • Acquisition, discovery, and application of knowledge • Engagement and service Each criterion includes several core components.

4. Successes: • Transitioning from “pockets” of well-intentioned to more integrated and effective structures that optimize conditions for learning • Transitioning from “what is taught” to “what is learned” and from “service approval” to “service impact” Opportunities & Challenges: • The need to better couple learning and developmental outcomes with experiences and services offered across campus. • Honest conversation about whether services offered have the impact desired … and, if not, what do we need to change? • Identify and correct ways in which one unit’s work maybe unintentionally crossing purposes against other units… and undermining student success. • Need to create a “system’s thinking” web approach – a networked infrastructure that is both physical and philosophical, that connects people sharing a common vision of the whole student. 1 Helping Students learn

5. Selected Distinctive Objective: Community engagement projects that are educationally-focused Strengths: • The sheer number and variety of engagements that reflect symbiotic relationships focused on well-being of communities, including lifelong learning and professional development Opportunities & Challenges: • Developing a strategic focus for community engagement, reflecting the institutional strategic plan • Developing systematic processes for (1) evaluating the impact of our work to enrich com- munities and (2) communicating, internally and externally, the processes and impacts of our work to enrich communities 2 Accomplishing Other Distinctive Objectives

6. Strengths: • Intentional, proactive approach to understanding student and stakeholder needs, and addressing these needs • Innovative use of technology to understand, assess, and serve students and stakeholders • Improvements to campus facilities, and signage Opportunities & Challenges: • Using technology to merge data from distinct systems, thus reducing inefficiencies in gathering and using data • Becoming more responsive to younger potential students (e.g., Early College Alliance, Gear Up, youth in foster care) • More consistent, accurate, and accessible academic advising resources 3 Understanding Students’ and Other Stakeholders’ Needs

7. Strengths: • Recognizing and rewarding staff and faculty • Campus infrastructure improvements that benefit students, faculty and staff • Using technology to improve the performance management and improvement processes, emergency preparedness, and campus safety. Opportunities & Challenges: • More systematic measurement of employee morale, job satisfaction, and interest in innovative employee benefit programs • Developing an employee succession planning program with a systematic approach to recruiting, retaining, developing, and promoting faculty and staff … and eventually phased retirement • The challenge: become a nationally recognized greatacademic workplace that fosters a culture of success, high employee morale, and job satisfaction in the face of challenging economic circumstances. 4 Valuing People

8. Strengths: • Implemented a variety of processes to inform campus and seek broad-based input • Broadened support for leadership and skill development • Strong leadership in University Communications, providing timely, transparent and consistent external and internal messaging Opportunities & Challenges: • Extended programs: a potential strategic growth area … in need of executive leadership • Leadership training and succession planning, especially for academic department heads • A university-wide decision making process 5 Leading and Communicating

9. Strengths: • Major improvements in campus security • Student satisfaction with many support services, both academic and non-academic Opportunities & Challenges: • Developing more effective, consistent, & efficient data sharing campus-wide to guide decisions • Increasing efficiencies in order to reduce spending without compromising service quality 6 Supporting Institutional Operations

10. Strengths: • Comprehensive systems and infrastructure to select, manage, and distribute information supporting instructional and non-instructional programs • A variety of techniques used to measure, analyze, and improve institutional performance Opportunities & Challenges: • Streamline the academic program review processes • Ensuring the compatibility between all secondary information systems and the main Banner system • Achieving shared understandings of "effectiveness" across units • Ensuring that unit-based data collection methods are compatible 7 Measuring Effectiveness

11. Strengths: • Institutional Strategic Planning Council (ISPC): established in 2006, restructured in March 2011, completion of next plan expected in January 2013. Milestones reached to date include: • Revisiting university mission, vision and 5 year goals, using input from over 2300 individuals (faculty, staff, students, alumni, etc.) • Developed web site & communication process, environmental scan, economic and social impact study, and program demand/sustainability analysis • Intentional linkages forged among continuous improvement, strategic planning, and university budgeting • Unit plans developed: Student Success Network, Strategic Enrollment Network, Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Division, Business and Finance Division, Department of Information Technology, College of Arts & Sciences, College of Health & Human Services 8 Planning Continuous Improvements

12. Opportunities & Challenges: • University Strategic Plan: Will provide a framework within which to align: • Data analysis and use in decisions • Assessing performance and outcomes • Priorities, as reflected in resource availability and allocation • Unit-level plans 8 Planning Continuous Improvements

13. Strengths: • Staff, faculty and students: all involved in communities through volunteering, experiential learning, grants, consulting • Campus units dedicated solely to linking the university and the region (Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, Academic Service Learning, VISION, Career Services, Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Communities) Opportunities & Challenges: • Creating strategic direction and cohesiveness in community engagement • Strengthening and expanding relationships with community colleges • Continued growth in international opportunities: • Ambassadorial and Consular Corps Liaison Office • Master’s International at EMU 9 Building Collaborative Relationships

14. Themes of our successes and challenges